The document discusses the requirements and considerations for building a successful online store. It explains that e-commerce involves selling merchandise over the internet through electronic transactions. Building an online store requires software that can manage customers, orders, inventory, payments and other aspects. When choosing e-commerce software, businesses should consider their needs, the sales and marketing cycle, and ensure the solution is flexible, easy to use, secure, and can scale with their growth. Options include ready-made software or custom systems, and thorough research is important before selecting.
2. The Internet is great at leveling the field for businesses.
Where else can you put up a site and immediately
compete with huge companies on an international
basis?
4. E-commerce, clearly termed as web commerce, basically
means selling of merchandise or services over the
Internet with electronic transactions and also through a
secure network. E-com is not merely buying and selling
or providing services but it is also a method of
advertising and marketing through an electronic system
as well. E-com also means facilitating the progress of
commercial transactions electronically. Right now e-com
is a well-established technology in all major countries. In
most cases internet marketing requires you to have your
own E-commerce store for maximum return.
6. Building an online store is not an easy job. Software is
required that can manage customers as well as their
needs. E-commerce software should be able to handle
inventory, shipping and handling costs, taxes,
dispatching and payment processing of client's orders.
You may encounter many options when setting out to
build an e- commerce store. Before choosing any of
them it is important to have a clear view of your
requirements. Technical requirements might include
coupons, tracking systems, customer login options or
any number of other things. Other requirements include
what type of impression you want to provide to your
valuable clients.
8. Before you opt for any of solutions for building e
commerce store, study the basic model of e commerce
that represents the entire sales and marketing cycle. The
first building block of this cycle is audience in which you
define what type of customers you will target. Second
are commodities, in which you characterize the types of
products you will put on the market. Third is customer
support where you will answer the questions and offer
solutions to clients' or potential clients' problems. Next
are advertising, marketing and endorsement where a
business promotes the products or services. Then there
is transaction processing, the most important technical
phase of the cycle, which will handle
9. orders, taxes, payment processing and order delivery.
Transactions may be automatic or manual. In manual
processing you have to enter credit card information
manually through an offline terminal. In the case of
automatic processing a client's order form will be setup
with a program that processes and charges the credit
card for you. After that there are post-deal services
regarding how you provide solutions and services after
the sale. Last but not least is brand name with which
you will create a distinctive business image to
correspond with customers. Nobody is going to pay
attention to your online store unless something catches
their eye.
11. Once you have defined your needs, you can then begin
researching your options. There are two basic paths you
may follow when building an e-commerce store - either
buy ready made software or build a custom system with
components and parts according to your requirements
and budgets.
13. Some business firms offer gifts and well placed impulse
products for better marketing approaches. This requires
an e-com solution to be flexible enough to allow various
give-aways, coupons and promotions. Also, if your
product comes in a variety of models or styles, with
different options and different prices then you must
communicate these factors and portray them
distinctively in your online store. A true businessperson
will certainly follow the patterns of his or her usual
clients as well as those who directly visit the site. Web
statistic tracking tools can be a great help to this end.
15. Some e commerce stores are very easy to use and
require only a few minutes to learn while others are
more complex with so many features that they can be
overwhelming. Being able to see a demonstration of
software before buying it is a great help to determining
ease of use.
17. Being able to grow with your company is very important.
If you choose a very simple solution now, then require a
more robust solution down the road, you will lose time
converting your store. If the URL structure of your store
is not consistent, you can also lose search engine
rankings by changing e commerce solutions. Therefore,
it is important to choose an e commerce solution that
can grow with you. For example, some stores owners
may not want coupons in the beginning but then down
the road decide it is a good idea. Some stores may also
have limits on number of products, inventory control
and tracking that down the road will be very important.
19. Of utmost importance to online stores is transaction
security. The priority for any business firm should be
secure transactions. Thanks to Netscape for introducing
SSL (secure socket layer), data can be protected by
online store owners. SSL is an encryption technology
that encrypts a message and the receiver decrypts it by
using RSA security. To enable SSL on your web server you
need a digital ID (a form of identification that will
recognize you). Many web hosts provide SSL installation
for anywhere from a few bucks to a few hundred bucks
per year.
20. Overall, you want flexibility, ease of use, security and
scalability in your store. Research your options before
you make a final choice, and whenever possible, get a
free trial of your solution before you buy.
